Norwegian authorities announced a fine of more than seven million dollars to the dating app on Wednesday Grindr for illegally sharing users’ personal data with third parties.
The fine of 65 million Norwegian kroner (about 7.2 million dollars) is the highest penalty for such a case in the Scandinavian country.
“Our conclusion is that Grindr disclosed user data to third parties for behavioral advertising without a legal basis,” said Tobias Judin, head of the international department of the Norwegian Data Protection Authority (DPA).
Grindr, which calls itself “the largest social media application in the world for homosexuals, bisexuals, transsexuals and queer people,” is accused of sharing GPS coordinates, data from its users’ profiles, such as age or gender, and the fact itself that they use the application, which gives indications of their sexual orientation.
According to the Norwegian DPA, the lack of clear information and explicit approval on this point violates the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) adopted by the European Union in 2018.
Grindr argued that the crimes were committed before April 2020, when the application changed its terms of use.
“We strongly disagree with Datatilsynet’s (DPA) reasoning, which refers to historic consent practices from years ago, not our current consent practices,” Shane Wiley, Grindr’s chief privacy officer, reiterated Wednesday in a email to AFP.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx